Culture TBS Identity provides communication with pictograms for the Zürcher Theater Spektakel With the Tages-Anzeiger as its main sponsor, the Zürcher Theater Spektakel has a very broad advertising platform in the newspaper. Less budget is available for the posters. TBS Identity was therefore looking for a "striking solution with the highest possible acceptance", as consultant Michael Schädelin from the Zurich agency explains. The form of the pictograms corresponded most effectively to this idea. While pictograms can usually be resolved in a straight line (this way to the toilet, that way to the departure terminal), the symbols on the advertisements and posters defy clear interpretation. "And yet the viewer searches for meaning and finds a subjective resolution in the fire under the chair or in the heart on the forklift truck in a small creative act," believe the creative minds at TBS.
In this way, their campaign is intended to become a "metaphor of the process of cultural work and cultural enjoyment, in which the familiar is reinterpreted, the connections are broken up and built into a new meaning".
This is the second year that TBS has been in charge of the spectacle. The last campaign worked with comic influences from Hong Kong. This year, the festival is no longer programmed around a theme. The advertising therefore also had to appear in a generally interpretable costume.
The 27th Theater Spektakel runs from August 17 to September 3. TBS Identity not only designed the print subjects in a continuous style, but also the program newspaper, the website and, of course, the signage on the festival grounds.    
Andreas Panzeri

Sports sponsorship The international study "Sponsoring 21+" by Sport + Markt AG provides an outlook for Switzerland for Euro 2008, among other things. Only a few weeks after some World Cup sponsors presented a rather mediocre assessment of the effectiveness of their commitments, the Association for Sponsorship (Faspo) and its office Felten & Cie had their say with a sponsorship study conducted internationally by Sport + Markt AG. According to the organizers, future sponsors could benefit from the lessons learned from the World Cup 06. This makes the study particularly interesting from a Swiss perspective with regard to Euro 2008. After all, the continental tournament is up against the Olympic Games in Beijing, which represent strong competition from an international, but hardly from a regional perspective.
According to the study, it is important to make this clear: In terms of interest in sports, football is far ahead of athletics. Even ice hockey and ski jumping are ahead of athletics, Formula 1 and cycling on the interest scale. A comparison of the individual sporting events, on the other hand, shows that the Olympics perform very well thanks to their high media presence.
Using the example of FIFA partner Coca-Cola, the study shows that in the information and stimulus overload surrounding major events - due to brand and media inflation as well as increasing communication budgets - only those who implement integrated, intelligent sponsorship concepts with an obvious key theme are noticed. In the case of Coca-Cola: "It's Your Home Game". Above all, however, it is important that these campaigns are continuously followed up with further campaigns (holds).

In addition to concrete results of the sponsorship effect (return on marketing investment), the study also contains a comparison of fan interests in Switzerland and internationally, examines the ideal platform for sponsors and the role of football sponsors in the fans' environment and describes the opportunities and risks of Euro 2008 for sponsors.
According to Remo Rusca of Felten & Cie, the prospects of emotionalizing the brand, dynamizing the image and achieving a lasting bond with the target group are also good at Euro 2008 with a coherent and credible positioning as a partner of football.
If you succeed in covering a topic comprehensively, it is even possible to exclude the competition through communication. The basis for this is credibility. Football fans, even more than football consumers, want to be taken seriously. Their commitment can be used. But only as long as they do not get the impression that their enthusiasm for their club is being instrumentalized and commercialized. From this point of view, the summative evaluation of the Swiss Life fan game, for example, should be interesting.
If an investor takes over and does not care about the needs of the fans, this is not accepted, as the weeks of demonstrations against Red Bull Salzburg prove. In fact, football clubs and football sponsors are walking a tightrope with their commitments, risking turning the sport into a commodity and scaring off fans and spectators.     
Alpine skiing remains the national sportThe representative study by Sport + Markt, "Sponsoring 21+"
has revealed a rather astonishing result for Switzerland: of the 1000 Swiss between the ages of 16 and 69 who were surveyed in May 2006, 56 percent said they were interested in alpine skiing. Alpine skiing thus remains the clear number one Swiss national sport. Neither football (52 percent) nor tennis in the Federer era (51 percent) come close to these popularity figures. The survey reveals a similar picture with regard to the most popular sporting events. Most respondents are interested in the Winter and Summer Olympics (64 and 59% respectively). The traditional Lauberhorn race in Wengen, in 4th place (53%), is also very popular. Although it is just behind the FIFA World Cup (58%), it is well ahead of other major football events such as the UEFA Champions League (37%). The domestic Axpo Super League and the ATP Tennis Tour are also behind the Lauberhorn Race.
Downhill skiing has a more difficult time with the younger target group. Only 39% of those aged 29 and under are interested in alpine skiing, whose image profile in this age segment is also worse than the overall result. This is also reflected in television broadcasts. "This suggests that the sport could have a 'newcomer problem' among TV viewers in the future," says Boris Hedde, International Sales Manager at Sport + Markt in Cologne.
 
Luca Aloisi

Fox Interactive Media (FIM), part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., and Twentieth Century Fox are joining forces to offer blockbuster films and TV hits as downloads. From the fall, feature films such as "The X-Men" will be available for 19.99 dollars via the FIM sites Ign.com and Myspace.com. Hit series such as "24" cost 1.99 dollars per episode. The offer ranges from new releases, TV movies and films that never made it to the big screen. In addition, all current series from the Fox family will be available. The FIM network reaches over 75 million users per month in the USA alone.

The Basler Zeitung wants to consolidate its leading position in north-western Switzerland with a comprehensive advertising offensive. The "hesch d baz" community campaign developed by the Basel communications agency Gruner Brenneisen should not be seen as a question, but as a matter of course. Because the Basler Zeitung (baz) provides answers and information for everyone and for everything important in the region, according to the press release.
The campaign starts on August 18 with posters, advertisements, transport advertising, radio spots, mailings and kiosk displays in Basel and the region. On August 18, the Basler Zeitung will also be published with increased regional reporting and a larger circulation (see "Basler Zeitung increases regional reporting") Note: The Basler Zeitung's campaign and strategy are presented in more detail in the current Advertising Week No. 28.

Swedish media company Metro International is launching a free afternoon edition of Denmark's most widely read free newspaper MetroXpress. In terms of content, the paper focuses on updated news and lifestyle reports. The free newspaper is intended to offer advertisers new and attractive opportunities. The afternoon paper is published for the first time on August 21, 2006. With an initial circulation of 100,000 copies from Monday to Thursday and 110,000 copies of a slightly larger weekend edition on Friday, the newspaper, called MetroXpress, will be distributed at 30 S-Bahn stations and 17 metro stations. The paper will also be distributed by numerous colporteurs in Copenhagen. The afternoon paper will be published even earlier than Ringier's evening paper Heute, namely at 2:30 pm.

On August 15, 2006, the 10,000th subscriber registered for the free newsletter, which provides daily information on trendy events in Zurich. This means that the Infomail has been exceptionally well received by the Zurich public. The people behind Ron Orp's Mail are Romano Strebel and Christian Klinner, managing directors of the Mitlinks agency. The hobby project was launched in April 2004 and developed into a professional medium with an independent editorial team. Fabian Zahner - also from Mitlinks - has been supporting the team since December 2005. The newsletter is financed exclusively by banners and text ads and has become a direct advertising channel into an attractive community. Swiss, Nivea, Carpe Diem, American Apparel and the Tages Anzeiger, among others, have advertised for themselves.

Roger Eckerlin will assume overall responsibility at Cinecom from fall 2006 for the areas of Kino National (advertising film campaigns), Promotions & Events, the cinema magazine Close-up! and the Lucerne experience cinema IMAX. Eckerlin was previously Head of TV and Adscreen Sales and a member of Cinecom's Executive Board. He succeeds Daniel Pauletto, who is taking on a new challenge as an independent marketer of the trade magazines Marmite and Vinum (see "Daniel Pauletto leaves Cinecom"). Eckerlin's successor as Head of Sales TV/Adscreen will be Karin Rickenmann, who has been with Cinecom since 1999 and is currently responsible for Sales Services. Prior to this, Rickemann worked at Cinecom for several years in TV consulting and as Product Manager Special TV Advertising Forms.
The new Head of Sales Services will be Isabella Samek. She worked for five years at MCI WorldCom in Sales (Team Leader) and as Field & Channel Manager Switzerland. Most recently, she worked at The Guide Company as Head of Internal Sales. Samek will take up her position at Cinecom in mid-September.

The private Swiss television station 3+ is looking for talented presenters for short news, weather and future entertainment shows. The new channel wants to give unknown faces the chance to apply for a casting, as the private broadcaster reports. Anyone who is not discovered as a new presenter may still make it onto television, as the casting recordings will also be used to create their own program on 3+.The new Swiss private channel is therefore launching three casting shows. In addition to the new Swiss superstar and the new Swiss supermodel, new presenters are also to be found via TV casting. Just like Swiss television SF with "Glanz & Gloria sucht..." (see
"SF launches documentary series 'Glanz & Gloria sucht...'") and Sat.1 Switzerland with "Joya rennt" (see "Ten finalists in the casting for 'Joya rennt'") on the TV casting program concept.On August 27, the candidates can prove themselves in front of the prominent 3-person jury - consisting of TV presenters Eva Camenzind and Marco Fritsche and Weltwoche columnist Mark van Huisseling. Anyone between the ages of 16 and 35 can apply by submitting a demo tape. You can also register online on the private broadcaster's website.
The jury already drew attention to themselves in advance. "It excites me to see how some people make a fool of themselves at a casting," van Huisseling told 20 Minuten. Presenters should be like Hugo Egon Balder or Michelle Hunziker, the columnist is further quoted in the commuter newspaper. 3+ goes on air for the first time on August 31 (see
"3+ goes on air on August 31 at 8 p.m.").

The Zurich advertising agency Publicis has won the pitch for the image campaign of the Swiss electricity company Axpo. The convincing integration of national team coach Köbi Kuhn is said to have been a decisive factor in Publicis winning the contract. Axpo was able to win over Kuhn as a partner and image bearer in advance - he is the linchpin of the energy giant's image campaign.
As Publicis reports, the first motifs have been on display in the Swiss print media since August 10.

The Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM) has invited tenders for three radio licenses for German-speaking Switzerland. The purpose is to expand the range of new terrestrial radio stations based on T-DAB (terrestrial Digital Audio Broadcasting) technology. The deadline for applications is the end of October 2006.
At the end of March, the Federal Council set the course for digital radio in Switzerland and gave the green light for the realization of a second terrestrial platform in German-speaking Switzerland (see
Digital radio receives a second platform). SRG already offers a T-DAB program in large parts of Switzerland.
The following conditions apply to the licenses now being put out to tender: They should relate to German-speaking Switzerland and not already be broadcast terrestrially via FM. The three licenses will also be based on the new Radio and Television Act (RTVA). Accordingly, the licenses will only be issued after the RTVA comes into force - probably in April 2007.

The T-DAB platform is a frequency channel with a transmission rate of 1.5 Mbps. Radio programs require a net data rate of at least 128 kbit/s. The aim of the new licenses is not to broadcast as many radio stations as possible, but to broadcast the most attractive and varied overall offering possible, OFCOM announced on Tuesday. In theory, up to 11 radio stations can be broadcast on the platform.

The text of the call for proposals and the instructions for submitting applications are available at
www.bakom.admin.ch.

The Swiss Press Association and Valora Press & Books Switzerland have ended the "Swiss Press Bikes" test project in Zurich. The mobile sales outlets, which were first launched on July 1 (see "New sales channel 'Swiss Press Bikes' at the start"), were withdrawn due to insufficient sales figures. According to the Swiss Press Association, the personnel and logistical costs were not commensurate with the sales figures and could therefore no longer be justified.six three-wheeled "Swiss Press Bikes" were on the road around the Zurich lake basin and on Zurich's Bahnhofstrasse for eight hours over seven days in fine weather. The mobile sales outlets had a strong visual presence and were perceived as appealing by passers-by and the media, according to the association. In addition, the cooperation between the various partner companies and official bodies involved worked well, and it remains to be seen whether the "Swiss Press Bikes" will be used in other Swiss cities in 2007 as planned. Those responsible for the project team have announced that they will be reviewing the possibility of carrying out this or a similar campaign next year under improved conditions. At the same time, work is continuing intensively on further ideas for promoting the sale of newspapers and magazines at newsstands and other points of sale.

Among the finalists at the New York Festivals is the Zurich advertising agency Wirz - they can hope for precious metal in September.
The TV commercial "Photographer" for Schweizerische Mobiliar was the only Swiss film entry to win a Bronze Lion in Cannes (see
Cannes: Bronze Film Lion goes to Wirz) and is now also on the waiting list for Gold, Silver or Bronze in New York.
The second work in the running is the "Balls" poster series for the vegetarian restaurant Tibits. Wirz announced on Tuesday that a total of seven Swiss agencies are hoping to be among the winners at the New York Festival.